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“There is no joy in the finite; there is joy only in the Infinite.”
The Upanishads look inward, finding the powers of nature only an expression of the more awe-inspiring powers of human consciousness.
Meditation here is not reflection or any other kind of discursive thinking. It is pure concentration: training the mind to dwell on an interior focus without wandering, until it becomes absorbed in the object of its contemplation. But absorption does not mean unconsciousness. The outside world may be forgotten, but meditation is a state of intense inner wakefulness.
“Dreams are real as long as they last. Can we say more of life?”
The Katha Upanishad would agree. In famous words it warns that the ascent to the summit of consciousness is not for the timid: “Sharp like a razor’s edge, the sages say, is the path to Reality, difficult to traverse.”
The message of the Katha, which echoes throughout the Upanishads, is to dare like a teenager: to reach for the highest you can conceive with everything you have, and never count the cost.
You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.
Nothing can satisfy us but reunion with our real Self, which the Upanishads say is sat-chit-ananda: absolute reality, pure awareness, unconditioned joy.
The ideal of the Upanishads is to live in the world in full awareness of life’s unity, giving and enjoying, participating in others’ sorrows and joys, but never unaware even for a moment that the world comes from God and returns to God.
materialism leads us to lose awareness of our inner life, which is bad enough; but to be hypnotized by our own feelings and sensations and forget about others and the world around us is worse.
between what is good and what is merely pleasant; in Sanskrit, between shreya and preya.
Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her, Alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams And our desires. –M.N.
The wise, realizing through meditation The timeless Self, beyond all perception, Hidden in the cave of the heart, Leave pain and pleasure far behind. 13 Those who know they are neither body nor mind But the immemorial Self, the divine Principle of existence, find the source Of all joy and live in joy abiding.
Though one sits in meditation in a Particular place, the Self within Can exercise his influence far away. Though still, he moves everything everywhere.
The Self cannot be known by anyone Who desists not from unrighteous ways, Controls not the senses, stills not the mind, And practices not meditation.
The senses derive from objects of sense-perception, Sense objects from mind, mind from intellect, And intellect from ego; 11 ego from undifferentiated Consciousness, and consciousness from Brahman. Brahman is the First Cause and last refuge.
Get up! Wake up! Seek the guidance of an Illumined teacher and realize the Self. Sharp like a razor’s edge, the sages say, Is the path, difficult to traverse.
The self-existent Lord pierced the senses To turn outward. Thus we look to the world Without and see not the Self within us. A sage withdrew his senses from the world Of change and, seeking immortality, Looked within and beheld the deathless Self.
Appropriately, then, this selection ends with a passage that, while lightly disguised as mythology, highlights three potent practices: damyata datta dayadhvam, “Be self-controlled, give, be compassionate.”
When you hear about the Self, meditate upon the Self, and finally realize the Self, you come to understand everything in life.
You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.
The heavenly voice of the thunder repeats this teaching. Da-da-da! Be self-controlled! Give! Be compassionate!
Those who depart from this world without knowing who they are or what they truly desire have no freedom here or hereafter. But those who leave here knowing who they are and what they truly desire have freedom everywhere, both in this world and in the next.
Lead me from the unreal to the Real. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality. OM shanti shanti shanti
One who meditates upon the Self and realizes the Self sees the Self everywhere, and rejoices in the Self. Such a one lives in freedom and is at home wherever he goes. But those who pursue the finite are blind to the Self and live in bondage.
In deep meditation aspirants may See forms like snow or smoke. They may feel A strong wind blowing or a wave of heat. They may see within them more and more light: Fireflies, lightning, sun, or moon. These are signs That they are well on their way to Brahman.
Health, a light body, freedom from cravings, A glowing skin, sonorous voice, fragrance Of body: these signs indicate progress In the practice of meditation.
As a dusty mirror shines bright when cleansed, So shine those who realize the Self, Attain life’s goal, and pass beyond all sorrow.
Ignorant of their ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.
Lead me from the unreal to the Real. Lead me from death to immortality. OM shanti shanti shanti
The light of Brahman flashes in lightning; The light of Brahman flashes in our eyes. 5 It is the power of Brahman that makes 6 The mind to think, desire, and will. Therefore Use this power to meditate on Brahman.
The Self is in all. Earth, air, fire, water, and space; all creatures, Great or small, born of eggs, of wombs, of heat, Of shoots, horses, cows, elephants, men, and women; And all that neither walk nor fly.
Beneath you and external to you lies the entire created universe. Yes, even the sun, the moon, and the stars. They are fixed above you, splendid in the firmament, yet they cannot be compared to your exalted dignity as a human being. . . . There is nothing above you in nature except God himself.
How can this be? How can this miniscule, fragile body whose size in the Universe is beyond ludicrous be, or contain, such importance? Because, the Upanishads and all the world’s great mystics insist, we are not that fragile body but that which causes it to move, breathe, and be alive: consciousness.
Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. –M.N
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought” (more literally, of mind).
Practice meditation. Stop all vain talk. 6 The highest state is beyond reach of thought, For it lies beyond all duality.
We want a new principle of political order which does not depend upon or induce uniformity among peoples, but which, tolerant of complexity, promotes the fullest unfolding of their individual potential – which happens to be a definition of nonviolence.
“One becomes like that which is in one’s mind – this is the everlasting secret”;
